Rendition (2007) October 20, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Cinema, Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Gavin Hood
Licensing topical news stories for films often elicits a range of public reaction, especially when the issues are of a political nature. Some will be for, some will be against, and, maybe most contentiously, others will agree with the points being made but feel that using movies as a source of awareness trivialises the real issue. War, corruption, terrorism – we have seen many examples of statements made about these topics, especially since 2001, and there are plenty more coming in the near future. But they are often heavily American films, shot with purpose and motive by American directors, for American audiences. So what could Oscar winning South African director Gavin Hood have to say on the matter? Rendition is the answer.
Triggering the plot is the disappearance of Anwar El-Ibrahimi, an Egyptian-born US green-card-holder, who is suspected of involvement in an act of terrorism. He is picked up at an airport and subjected to the covert process of rendition, whereby he is sent to a secret base off US soil and tortured for information. Newly appointed CIA analyst Douglas Freeman is forced to take the role of observing the process, conducted by a known Arab target named Abasi Fawal, but soon starts to feel uncomfortable in his involvement. Meanwhile, Anwar’s wife uses her own political contacts at home to try and track her husband down while Abasi has family problems of his own as he worries about his missing daughter.
The story is actually not as complex as the above summary makes it sound, and while there is a bit of jumping around between the various locales, the film flows very nicely and it’s never confusing. If anything, the narrative sometimes seems a little slow, especially during the sequences with Freeman as he ponders his new job and the situation it has put him in. All credit to Gavin Hood, director of the Oscar winning Tsotsi [review], for keeping a film with such an abundance of storylines both visually interesting and generally engaging. His skills certainly surpass his experience here.
Jake Gyllenhaal takes the lead as the CIA agent out of his comfort zone, but actually doesn’t get a great deal to do. Praise for his role is worthy, but not as much as for Yigal Naor who plays ruthless family-man Abasi Fawal with tremendous intensity, or Peter Sarsgaard, whose investigation of the case and eventual concern for himself is very true to life. Also in the mix is Reese Witherspoon giving a solid performance as Anwar’s pregnant wife, 
Meryl Streep in a nasty, biting role that she makes her own, and the always enjoyable J.K. Simmons. Rounding off the film are two young actors in Moa Khouas and Zineb Oukach, whose relationship and involvement in the plot start out as trivial, but become increasingly important as the story rolls on.
Of course, this being a politically focussed movie there is the inevitable moral standpoint which must be established. It is Gyllenhaal who gets to give the anti-torture speech that is such a necessity of this film, although luckily it is short and not too overstated since the content of the movie more than pushes its point. Interestingly, there is some balance introduced into the subject, with arguments proposed for both sides on the subject of torture for information. It’s still clear where the filmmaker’s intentions lie in terms of their final message, but just to hear the pro-rendition argument from Meryl Streep (who, admittedly, is the ‘evil’ character) 
is to question what kind of priority you put on national security. For every moment of genuine insight however, there is a matching moment of political denial, including the self-preservation of a senator’s own interest and a reprisal of the “United States does not torture” line that maybe didn’t need to be in a film that wants to be smarter than most.
There’s certainly plenty going on in this movie; more so on reflection than it actually seems like at the time. Structurally, it’s an interesting piece of work, not least because it actually makes you think about structure rather than take it for granted, which cumulates in a mid-third-act turn that is both intriguing and welcomed. That is Rendition’s high-point for me, not its emotional punch which is just a little too flat to really be considered effective. The plot is going to cause discussion of course, but just because you’re telling this story doesn’t automatically make it affecting. For that you need to be part of the characters motivations and part of their emotions, whilst I found the film forces you to remain a little detached from both. It’s still a worthy piece of drama though and undoubtedly a movie with an important message. Whether people are prepared yet to take that message from a dramatic interpretation on film, is another matter.
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